Appearance of the levator ani muscle subdivisions in magnetic resonance images.

Objective: Identify and describe the separate appearance of 5 levator ani muscle subdivisions seen in axial, coronal, and sagittal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan planes.

Methods: Magnetic resonance scans of 80 nulliparous women with normal pelvic support were evaluated. Characteristic features of each Terminologia Anatomica-listed levator ani component were determined for each scan plane.

Can women without visible pubococcygeal muscle in MR images still increase urethral closure pressures?

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine if the ability to increase maximum urethral closure pressure (MUCP) with a pelvic muscle contraction is impaired in women without pubococcygeal muscle (PCM).

Study Design: This was a cross-sectional study of continent women comparing those with (n=28) and those without (n=17) PCM as identified by MR scans. A pelvic muscle contraction was performed simultaneously with recordings of urethral and bladder pressures.

Quantitative analysis of uterosacral ligament origin and insertion points by magnetic resonance imaging.

Objective: To estimate the percentage of healthy women in whom the uterosacral ligaments are identifiable on standard magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and to determine origin points from the genital tract and insertion points on the pelvic sidewall.

Methods: Eighty-two asymptomatic women (mean +/- standard deviation age 53 +/- 12 years; mean parity 2.5, range 0-7) volunteered for this study.

The axial location of structural regions in the urethra: a magnetic resonance study in nulliparous women.

Objective: To define and quantify the appearance and location of distinct regions of the bladder neck and urethra by using axial magnetic resonance images from healthy, continent, nulliparous women.

Methods: Seventy-eight asymptomatic, healthy, nulliparous women (mean age 29.2 +/- 5.

The urethra during pelvic floor contraction: observations on three-dimensional ultrasound.

Objective: To investigate with three-dimensional ultrasound how voluntary pelvic floor contractions influence the morphology of the female urethra's components.

Methods: Twenty female patients with benign gynecologic disorders (mean age: 29 years; range: 19-40) had transrectal sonography using a 7.5-MHz mechanical sector endoprobe with three-dimensional features during both pelvic floor muscle relaxation and pelvic floor muscle contraction.